There was a time when the term "data" referred exclusively to computer text information. But today, the definition of data has expanded to include any piece of communication that can be expressed in the bits and bytes of the digital world. This can range from text to graphics; from voice to music; from simple emails to sophisticated web content.

The rapid growth of the Internet has enhanced the role of data communications in modern life. Computer networks are the conduits and the floodgates for this ocean of information, which is now being used to spur technologies such as mobile computing, wireless communications, high-speed broadband, instant messaging, personal digital assistants and other innovations. An entire generation of hardware-including hubs, bridges, switches and routers-was developed to support this modernization. At the same time, protocols and standards are in constant development and refinement to assure that these new information appliances share a common "language" in order to work effectively together.